Thursday, 8 February, 19:00 – Much of the country is glued to the box watching as President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation address (Sona), except he’s not. At least not yet. For now the yawning circus that has become par for the course amongst our “Honourable Members” wreaks havoc inside Cape Town City Hall. With civil society groups in protest nearby; a populace exasperated by rolling blackouts and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) baying to resort to all manner of heckling and pointed disorder to ensure the president would not deliver his address, we all saw it coming. Cyril Ramaphosa had an unenviable task. And – for that matter – so did millions of South Africans, scores of whom wallow in unemployment and almost down to a man, are subject to debilitating blackouts.
But for the Ramaphosa administration, these are the least of the things keeping them up at night. Where his predecessor’s last days were dogged by pejorative lampooning, Guptagate, and the haunting chant “Zuma must go!” for Ramaphosa, Phala Phala is inarguably his Achilles heel. The sweet-spot chink in his armour that serves as a cunning ruse to grant opposition belligerence a semblance of justification.
Thus not even a Nongqawuse wannabe would’ve fluffed how things would go down: Parliamentary Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula rebuffing repetitive points of order by the Red Brigade, only for the next EFF member to rise on a similar point of order. Then it’s time to up the ante – yell, jeer, be a nuisance – despite constant plights on the part of the Speaker reminding the disorderly that a nation was anxiously waiting to hear how the President planned to allay their troubles.
When things reach boiling point, parliamentary protective services are called in to forcibly remove the fingered culprits, who have clearly learnt to avoid the intense strong-arming by getting up timeously. Seemingly bored of their own repetitive theatrics, this year an unexpected gimmick was slotted in the routine – charging the podium, a move that was swiftly quashed by the presidential task force.
Then came the moment of truth where what had just moments ago seemed like a flustered, drained Ramaphosa clearly forcing difficult, feigned grins to the cameras found his rhythm. He began with a prosaic peptalk asking, “what defines us as a nation?” By the President’s estimation the answer is; “hope and resilience.” He urged us to “work together and act boldly and decisively…to resolve our challenges.”
Foremost on the list of said “challenges” is the energy crisis to which the President declared a National State of Disaster as well as the addition of an electricity minister.
He also mentioned his “action plan” from last year which “outlined five key interventions: First, fix Eskom’s coal-fired power stations and improve the availability of existing supply. Second, enable and accelerate private investment in generation capacity. Three, accelerate procurement of new capacity from renewables, gas and battery storage.
Four, unleash businesses and households to invest in rooftop solar. Five, fundamentally transform the electricity sector to achieve long-term energy security.” He promised that government would “proceed with the rollout of rooftop solar panels. Through “adjustments to the bounce-back loan scheme” small businesses would also be helped to invest in solar equipment. In point form, a few of key pointers:
Allow private developers to generate electricity.
More than 100 projects expected to provide over 9000 MW of new capacity over time.
“Eskom will procure emergency power that can be deployed within six months to close the immediate gap. We are investing in new transmission lines and substations, especially in areas such as the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape,” Ramaphosa said.
300 MW of excess power has been acquired from neighbouring states.
An independent board will soon be operational at Eskom.
The Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill “to transform the energy sector and establish a competitive electricity market” will be tabled later this year.
In a move that some had anticipated, the President then proceeded to declare a national state of disaster. “The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take to support businesses in the food production, storage and retail supply chain, including for the rollout of generators, solar panels and uninterrupted power supply” Ramaphosa assured. “Where technically possible,” he continued, “it will enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from load shedding.” In a pre-emptive move perhaps to thwart suspicions, Ramaphosa said that “the Auditor-General [would] be brought in to ensure continuous monitoring of expenditure, in order to guard against any abuses of funds.”
The President also announced that he would be appointing a Minister of Electricity in the Presidency who “will focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management.” There have been “massive investments in renewable energy [that] will create jobs,” he said, also mentioning how “the Northern Cape has already attracted well over R100 billion in investments.” He touched on growing the economy, SMMEs, infrastructure, cannabis, flourishing black industrialists, worker ownership, youth unemployment – to which he said that “the Employment Tax Incentive has been expanded to encourage businesses to hire more young people.”
In an address that dragged on for hours, it would be a fool’s errand to touch on everything Ramaphosa said. Punters have been dissecting the address across all media platforms with many of them seemingly unconvinced that the President’s proposed measures will bear any fruit. As eParkeni writes, Parliament is debating the SONA. Opposition benches are hardly impressed by the President’s utterances with the Democratic Alliance, trade unions Solidarity and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA seeking to take court action against the national state of disaster. But as the mighty elephants tussle it out, those at grassroots can only hope that Ramaphosa’s words will materialise into tangible results. The parliamentary squabbles have little to no bearing for them. All they want are results; a job to pitch up to, the lights on, kids receiving quality education and food on the dinner table.
A frivolous aside; is it just me or did the President’s opening comments about a “nation defined not by the oceans and rivers” smack of a veiled swipe at former President Thabo Mbeki’s I am an African who “owe(s) his being to the valleys, the mountains and the glades?” Payback for when the latter tore viciously into the Buffalo on the issue of a social compact sometime last year perhaps? Maybe that’s a reach, but whether the Ankole administration will prove faithful to their word, only time will tell.